Star Player Talks Of His Big Ambitions At Newcastle

Written by Dr. Ed Harrison

8:09am Friday, September 16th, 2016

Commented 12 times

Matt Ritchie has quickly become a fan favorite on Tyneside because of his terrific skills, his consistency and the fact that he dropped down a division to join Newcastle when we were in need of a player of Matt’s ability.

Matt also had experience with Bournemouth playing in the Championship and that was also important.

The 27 year-old essentially replaced Andros Townsend who wanted to play Premier League football and it’s fair to say that so far this season we haven’t missed any of the high profile players who have left the club – Andros, Gini Wijnaldum, Daryl Janmaat or Moussa Sissoko.

Matt Ritchie in action at Loftus Road Matt has talked today about his ambitions at Newcastle and why he joined the club and starts by talking of the 6-0 win at QPR on Tuesday night:

“It’s nice to have been part of history,” “Although it’s a bit of a shame not to have beaten the record, to be honest, because we went close to getting a seventh.”

“We dominated in the first half and took our chances, and then in the second half we got a real foothold in the game and controlled it throughout.”

“The experience of the game at QPR was the reason I came to Newcastle.”

“I want to have nights like that, and I want to have success and try to be part of something special at this football club.”

“I don’t want to speak too soon because it’s still early days. “But hopefully we’re building the foundations to achieve that.”

“Football changes quickly, and that was only one win,” “We need to keep our foot on the gas now and make sure we continue to get better and progress.”

“The good thing is that we have a good squad, a big squad, and there will be players who didn’t play at QPR who will be champing at the bit to get into the team.”

“Some people will say Tuesday was a bit of a statement. “But we know we have to keep fighting in every game to stay in and around the top of the league.”

“We need to follow the win up now. “We need to make St James’s Park a fortress.”

“We’ve had a couple of good victories there of late, and we need to continue that now with a couple of home games coming up.”

“Hopefully, we can perform well and, most importantly, keep clean sheets and score more goals. “That’s a good chemistry to have.”

“A lot of credit has to go to the back four.” “We scored six goals, but the most important thing was that we kept another clean sheet.”

Time to leave off the needless rubbishing of Charnley. One reason is that Rafa continually speaks of his good working relationship with him. Another is his success in negotiating the deals to bring in 12 players and to clinch briiliant prices for outgoing players. The third is to accept that he was learning his trade within a rotten regime whereas now, just like some rejuvenated players, he’s learning from a true football genius. Let it go please.

health update

My latest checkup was yesteday and after a battery of tests the results show the cancer remains stabilized and has not spread further.

Some background - I was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer in February 2017 after being in remission for six years. and I completed four months of intense chemotherapy in late July.

The cancer metastasized through the bones and one treatment available I am undergoing is hormone treatment.

There is no cure for Stage 4 cancer and I will continue to have exhaustive blood tests about every three months and CAT-scans and bone-scans when necessary.

I will do my best under the circumstances and I take this as another challenge - a big one.

Ed Harrison

Comments

The purpose of the comments is to allow Newcastle United fans and others to express their views on the news of the day concerning the Newcastle United Football Club.

We'd ask that you be civil towards other readers and refrain from obscene language and any comments on religion, ethnic groups or politics.

Let's make this work - and let's help the Newcastle United Football Club become great again.

Ed Harrison

Kacper Tylenda Website Designer

One of our avid readers Kacper Tylenda from Poland was the person who came in during April, 2017 and redesigned this web-site from top to bottom.

We think he did a fantastic job to modernize the site with the roll-out on Thursday May 18th surprisingly smooth.

I am so appreciative of his help.

Kacper is starting his own business in web-design so if you want a website built or know of people who want to redo their sites in any way – here’s his portfolio.

football club

It’s the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city. It’s a small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and, without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love.